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л , 0 \ ] R ф Н " ф Џ F F 2 2 2 2 ф 2 Џ , I I ѕ I I I I I F F J п F F J ID45 Making Meaning: Introduction to Research
Basic Concepts about Research and Science
Research:
Four qualities which distinguish research from other human activities:
research is honest (truth is more valuable than personal interest)
research is systematic (employs scientific method)
research considers alternative explanations and constructs arguments using data to rule out these alternative explanations
for the reasons listed above, research has the power to influence people who dont otherwise agree.
Research is a process of successive approximation. Joseph Priestly remarked:
Very lame and imperfect theories are sufficient to suggest useful experiments
which serve to correct those theories, and give birth to others more perfect. These then occasion farther experiments, which bring us nearer to the truth: and in this method of approximation, we must be content to proceed, and we ought to think ourselves happy, if, in this slow method, we make any real progress.
Science: The use of criteria to evaluate claims. Different scholarly disciplines employ somewhat different criteria to evaluate different claims. Nonetheless, what is common among all disciplines is the application of logic to empirical data. This is described as scientific method.
A hypothesis attempts to find a causal relationship between events. An hypothesis is always derived from a preceding theory. Typically, this preceding theory is comprised of known facts combined with unproven assumptions. Therefore, a test of an hypothesis is also a test of the underlying theory. Repeated failure to prove an hypothesis requires revision of the underlying theory. Wrong hypotheses are essential to create the path to correct conclusions and improved theory.
Conclusions are always based on repeated experimental results, upon the preponderance of evidence. Objectivity is achieved when more than one investigator conducts the same experiment and obtains the same results.
Validity: Evaluation of the degree to which one is testing/measuring that which one intends to test/measure. For example, does an IQ test actually measure intelligence, or does it really measure reading ability, awareness of cultural values, or knowledge of culturally acquired facts? In the case study, Group therapy and the visually handicapped, questions were raised about whether it was valid to conclude that the intervention described (the confrontation and concern expressed to a blind individual by sighted members of a therapy group) was actually the cause of the blind persons changed behavior (his reduced deviance in the group, his improved relationships, his improved life outside the treatment). Apart from this intervention, so many other variables could have contributed to or caused this changed behavior that the validity of the study was challenged.
Reliability: Evaluation of the degree to which a test or measuring device provides repeatable outcomes. For example, if one gets on a bathroom scale three times and obtains measures of 125, 152 and 165, the scale is not reliable.
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